AP asks Seeds company to shut down factory in Anakapalli

VISHAKHAPATNAM: The Andhra Pradesh government has served notices on Seeds Apparel India Private Limited (Seeds), where a gas leak led to the hospitalisation of several women on Tuesday, and even asked it to close the business.

Disclosing this here on Wednesday, Andhra Pradesh Minister for Industries Gudivada Amarnath said that a high-level inquiry would be conducted into the gas leak incident that happened at the apparel manufacturing unit located in the Brandix Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Atchutapuram district.

A similar gas leak incident happened on the premises of the Brandix unit in June this year. Referring to the earlier incident, he said that a chemical, glorify polish, was released through the AC ducts due to which about 100 women fell ill.

The Minister said that the inquiry would ascertain if the latest gas leak was a deliberate act or merely accidental in nature.

He said: "We have given notices to close the Seeds company. If there was a deliberate attempt by someone to cause the gas leak, we will find out. Safety audits are important for industries. If norms were not followed, we will take action against such companies."

The Minister said that the samples collected from the unit would be sent to Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Hyderbabad, for further investigation.

On Tuesday, at least 50 women workers, who were present at the manufacturing unit, had to be rushed to a hospital after they complained of nausea. A few of them fell unconscious due to the leakage of gas.